


the 'hyung' thing

by rosemalings



Category: EXO (Band), Gugudan (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cute Oh Sehun, F/M, Nebulous Timeline, Nicknames, Sejeong is sweating, lapslock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosemalings/pseuds/rosemalings
Summary: sehun thinks they're all wrong about the 'hyung' thing.
Relationships: Kim Sejeong/Oh Sehun
Comments: 40
Kudos: 131





	the 'hyung' thing

**Author's Note:**

> [this](https://twitter.com/biasanakdurhaka/status/1203234648056221696) interview for busted season 2 is one of the cutest things in the world and the full inspiration behind this fic. please consider leaving a comment if you enjoyed this story. it keeps me motivated.
> 
> \+ if you'd like to follow me, i can be found at my [fic twitter](https://twitter.com/therosemalings).

he is always so careful.

sejeong wants to balance on the low brick wall, holding her arms out and, true to form, even if they are no longer acting and improvising in front of the camera, sehun is at her side, a hand hovering at the small of her back because he had made a dozen promises to protect her. sejeong rarely needs protecting, resilient and bright, but she never rejects his help all the same, letting him linger behind her.

fall has begun to give into winter's chill and the two of them, bundled up in plaids and wool, have stolen away after a morning of filming promotions for the show. sejeong's chattering to him about her upcoming promotions, and sehun swears he's listening but he can't seem to take his eyes off her very adorable mittens. they seem to be hand-knit, brick red and utterly endearing. a small smile forms on his thin lips before he gently takes her hand.

with an easy smile, she accepts it, giving his fingers a squeeze. "thanks, oppa."

his heart skips a beat and it only serves to make him furrow his brow even more.

they have danced around this for quite some time even as sejeong had been determined to begin in friendship. friendship was easier. but then again, it's easy to do just about anything when she's so easygoing and friendly and now they have work jokes and inside jokes and hang out once in a while.

"it's 'oppa' today?" he finds himself brave enough to say as they walk along the low wall. 

she hums, "i was in a oppa mood." their eyes meet and they both laugh, sehun's eyes forming little crescent moons, crinkling at the corners. "you're cute."

" _ aish _ –" with his free, ungloved hand, he scrubs the back of his neck, his cheeks now very warm. "was that okay? what i said before during the interview? i know we all agreed to 'sese duo' but i should have checked with you…"

sejeong clicks her tongue and turns to slowly take a seat on the ledge, using his hand to keep her upright as she adjusts herself in her detective-inspired outfit. her smile is radiant, unwavering and she takes both his hands without warning, which only makes his heart stutter again. "i like that you like me calling you 'hyung' and 'oppa.' i feel comfortable with you." there's a hint of uncertainty laced through her words and he isn't sure if the pink on her cheeks is because of the cold or because she's embarrassed.

"good." and he is genuinely pleased about that. their work, his company in particular, these days rarely encourages such close collaboration between men and women, and he can't help but feel pleased that there had been such a positive reaction to the way their on-screen friendship played out. with his ever-serious gaze, he looks up at her again, at how her smile becomes a question and a part of him wants to brush his fingers against her cheek, combing through long brown hair, wanting to assure her that all of this is okay. he's never had to be the eldest, the one to protect and assist, and sometimes he forgets that he's sejeong's professional senior by several years. instead, he rubs his fingers over the soft wool, over her knuckles, both of them allowing this platonic closeness because that is all that they are both prepared to approach at this moment.

and it's okay. he likes walking the line between hyung and oppa with kim sejeong.

* * *

she is always so careful.

dancing has never been her strong point as a main vocalist and it was something she struggled through up until her gugudan debut. she's gotten better. and apparently, the public thinks she has gotten better, according to the other members who spend more time on their social media feeds than she does. but for a variety of reasons, she jumps at the opportunity when sehun has some time between projects and invites her to the dance studio.

she's careful because rumors can be damaging, because so much rides on her shoulders and she doesn't want to risk gugudan's future successes. she's careful because she normally prefers to be friends with boys, to hold them at arm's length because who has the time for secret relationships? certainly not her.

but sehun makes her pause.

he's demonstrating something in front of the mirror and looking terribly dashing even in a pair of black sweatpants and an old exo sweatshirt, black hair swept back, his brow as serious as always. her mouth might be half open, but that can easily be excused by the water bottle held aloft without actually touching her lips.

"do you need me to repeat it?" sehun asks worriedly, turning around to face her.

"i – no." sejeong laughs around the water bottle once she finally takes a sip and sets it on the table she had been leaning against. "no, i just. i knew you were a dancer. i've  _ seen _ your stages multiple times – i just forgot? i forgot how good you are!" and how very attractive he is while doing it. she touches the back of her wrist to her forehead before taking a step forward. brown tendrils of hair cling to her cheeks and forehead, the rest swept back into a high ponytail. she looks and feels quite tired, a little bit out of her element next to oh sehun. 

"sejeonggie." he turns to her, deadpanning as he gently grasps her shoulders. "i am not a real detective in case you forgot."

"ah!" she huffs in annoyance, glad for the distraction and teasing, though playfully pushing at his chest in protest. sehun, so broad and tall and sturdy, graciously stumbles back a step. ( or maybe that was a genuine stumble. she is known for her strength after all. ) " _ hyung _ , you're a true menace, teasing me in my fragile state."

"i knew it." his grin is devious this time as he lowers his hands to hold her wrists against his chest instead.

"knew what?"

" _ you like looking at me _ ," sehun sings proudly which earns him another little shove, a weaker one this time around. he's bold. he's bolder because she has encouraged it, initiating touches, fixing his hair, leaning against him. she likes seeing the polite and cute sehun, but there is something about the way he is with her in this very moment, barefaced and playful and smirking attractively and entirely in his own element, that makes sejeong want to melt into the ground.

instead she hops onto her toes and kisses him, wanting to throw him off balance this time. sehun's hands tighten around her wrists before he drops them, wrapping them around her waist instead. they're both a little sweaty, a little tired, but she can still faintly taste his toothpaste in his kiss, the bit of chapstick he swiped on before their meeting. there isn't any swelling music and the starlight has been replaced by the overbearing fluorescent lights of the studio he's claimed for the two of them, but when she pulls back to look at his big, toothy smile, she can't help but think –

_ perfect. _

* * *

"does it matter to you?" she asks him, unprompted. 

they're at a noisy late night noodle place and sehun looks like he could fall asleep with his face in his dish, but he had insisted on seeing her after recording. he blinks up at her when she touches his chin and slowly turns his head to face her. "hm?"

sejeong kisses his shoulder softly, the two of them hidden in a booth away from other patrons at this house. "does it matter to you? hyung or oppa?"

he stares at her, lips forming a pouty frown. she really wants to kiss him here but refrains at least until she gets some answers. "sejeonggie, why this again?" he asks before shoveling some very spicy noodles into his mouth, slurping happily and in a way that delights her to no end.

"ah." she considers her answer, pursing her own lips to half-mirror his expression as they both tend to their bowls of food. "because i called you both when i was unsure. i was unsure of a lot, you know?" he nods, chewing away, gesturing for her to continue. "but i am sure that i like you and i like dating you, but i still feel –– strange, saying one word over the other. do you understand?"

he sets his chopsticks down and carefully wipes around his mouth, the frown still on his lips as he considers her words. "why are you – why do you feel strange?" he sounds rather hurt and sejeong can feel cracks deepening in her heart when he looks up at her, more like a puppy than the wolf fans had assigned to him years ago.

_ oh no _ .

shit. 

maybe a part of him had been hoping she might change her tune. maybe he had been harboring this desire all along. maybe she should just suck it up and call him by that name because that's what girls are expected to  _ do _ .

sejeong lifts her hand and begins playing with his hair as she is often wont to do, brushing her fingers through the longer strands in the front and putting him a little bit at ease with her touch. "i think it's a me-thing and not a you-thing. i'm not. i'm not very used to all of this, wanting to be with someone like this." 

she knows he means nothing by it, but his stare can truly burn holes into her soul. nervously, she swallows down a bit of his beer that he ordered mostly because she wanted beer without wanting to order beer for herself. "but," he begins, folding his hands in his lap with his knees pressed together and somehow looking very big and very small simultaneously. "you want to be with me?"

inhale. exhale. she nods several times, resting her hand over his folded ones. "very much so."

he smiles and sejeong wants to melt into the floor again because his smile is perfect and disarming and she can't believe that she has the sweetest boy in the world. "then that's all that matters to me."

* * *

sejeong doesn't call him 'oppa' when they first sleep together. he gets other terms of endearment, he gets 'sehunnie,' but he doesn't get the word chanyeol  _ fully _ expected him to hear when he had happily given him some unsolicited advice on their last date. at this point, words matter very little to him because sejeong didn't even give him a chance to speak when they find themselves alone in his solitary room in the dorms, jumping right into his arms.

it had been nice, seeing her at the countdown show that morning in her pretty blouse and her dainty bangs, looking like a spring vision while he glowered and stalked about in his leather suit. he has learned a lot about her since they started officially unofficially seeing each other – one of those things being that she isn't very subtle. there was no mistaking the way she eyed him up very, very slowly as they greeted each other in the waiting room, the two of them pretending like they hadn't been frantically making out the other day.

sejeong is relentless, getting her hands down his pants and making his eyes roll back into his head. a few uneven pumps of her hand and she's already pulling away so she can get him out of his clothes. when she climbs into his lap, fully naked with messy hair he had been running his fingers through seconds ago –– he doesn't think he has ever been so enamored with a single person in his entire life.

she's so much smaller than he is but he knows better than to deny her request not to be treated like a doll. but when she softly whimpers ' _ hyung _ ' as he once again pulls her down the mattress and away from his headboard, sehun just about loses it and nearly comes right there and then.

they're all wrong about the 'hyung' thing. he can't imagine a better word in the world.


End file.
